As I passed the lobby, I saw the two men in dark suits still talking to the security guard.

One of them looked up and met my eyes.

He didn’t move, but his gaze followed me until I pushed through the glass doors into the cold night.

The rain was falling harder now, bouncing off the asphalt.

I got into my car, my hands trembling as I put the key in the ignition.

My dashboard screen lit up with a notification.

An email had just arrived in my personal inbox.

The sender was an anonymous proxy address.

The subject line was simply: *The Colonel’s Last Will.*

My finger hovered over the screen as the wipers swept across the windshield, clearing the water for a brief second before it blurred again.

I tapped the screen with a damp finger.

The email contained a single link to an encrypted drive and a short message in plain text.

*He kept the originals in the safe at the farm. They are going to burn it tonight.*

My heart hammered against my ribs as I shifted the car into drive and pulled out of the hospital parking lot.